Danger Close (Shadow Warriors)

by Lindsay McKenna

  Hayes squirmed. “I’ll try, ma’am.”

  “You’ll do more than try, Hayes! I want you to get over there immediately. Naturally, you will not tell Fremont I’ve sent you over. This is just between you and me, Hayes. Do you understand? Good. Questions? Very well, dismissed.”

  Louise toyed with the pencil, staring blankly at the maps strewn beneath her hands after Hayes scurried out of the tent like a timorous field mouse. Something was up. She could feel it. The daily reports coming from Alpha on Fremont indicated nothing unusual. At least, nothing she could point to. Fremont was out on patrol again and had finally been given point position yesterday. So far, no body count. But then, the area that Alpha had to patrol was far less active then Delta’s.

  Rising, Lane turned to the assorted maps, graphs and statistics hung on the three walls of the tent. She studied the enemy KIA; this was the difference between the necessary medals she could hand out to her women or sinking into media obscurity. They needed continued contact in order to stay in the headlines. She wanted more than one in every ten patrols to encounter LA. Without body counts or a few of her women getting injured, she couldn’t award Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star or even an occasional silver star. Although Sergeant Thatcher was dead, Louise had been able to push the paperwork through for a Silver Star for her heroism under fire. Yes, the glowing report Louise had personally penned on Thatcher’s valor out in the field had caught every major newspaper’s headlines. Even in death, Thatcher had made front-page news. God, how she missed her.

  Louise walked outside the tent, surveying her platoons of women. She felt the unbridled thrill of being a conquering hero—only this time, it was a woman who stood upon the platform of the war chariot, not a man. A rare smile cracked her set features as she saw Rogers’s squad moving out, getting ready to shadow a known enemy trail and eventually pick an ambush site. Hopefully, they would encounter the enemy instead of hiding along the trail only to see a wild pig or water buffalo meander by.

  Turning back to her office, Louise was still irritated by Fremont’s unreliability. Perhaps Hayes could find out what was really going on. She damn well better.

  Chapter 14

  CATHY WAS BEGINNING to strip down her M16 in her hootch when she spotted Hayes walking down the hill toward her. Leaping up, Cathy gave a cry and trotted up to Janet, hugging her fiercely.

  “Janet…how? I mean how did you get over here…my God, how are you?”

  Janet laughed, bowled over by Cathy’s enthusiasm. “Fine. You look really good, Cathy. You must be getting some rest?”

  “I am. How did you get over here? Did you have to sneak over?”

  Giving Cathy a guilty look, Janet lied, hoping it didn’t show on her face. “No…I, uh, asked permission to come and see you.”

  Cathy led her down into the hootch and made a place for her to sit on the poncho liner. “Then Lisa and the other women can come and visit?” There was hope in her voice and in her eyes.

  Janet shrugged. “I don’t know, Cathy.” Unable to hold her gaze, she picked at the shoelace on her dusty combat boot. “I got up enough gumption to go and ask, that’s all. We…all the women were wondering how you’ve been. We kinda missed you.”

  Cathy smiled, her eyes narrowing in suspicion for a moment. She couldn’t quite picture “mouse” Hayes walking in and asking Lane or Ingram for anything—much less permission to see her. Lisa would. But Janet wouldn’t. She saw Janet blush and then released her misgivings. Picking up a small tin nearby, Cathy pressed it into Janet’s hands.

  “Here, this is for you. Now you can quit looking like an alligator shedding its skin,” she teased, watching Janet’s eyes round as she removed the lid.

  “Oh, Cathy. Face cream. Where’d you get this?”

  “Gomez is our scrounger. He swiped it from the rear for me. Wasn’t that thoughtful of him?”

  Laughing nervously, Janet said, “That’s really something….”

  “Keep it.”

  Guiltily, Janet replaced the lid and handed it back to Cathy. “Naw, I’d better not. You know the major. She’d give you a day in the Cellar for sure if I got caught with it.” She tried to smile as Cathy’s face drew up in anger. “Thanks…” she added meekly.

  “Dammit, Jan, can’t we share a simple gift between us? Is the world going to fall apart if we do?” Cathy jerked her rifle to her and returned to the field-stripping operation.

  Hayes bowed her head. After a few moments she squeaked, “Are the Recon Marines treating you okay?”

  “A hell of a lot better than I was treated over at Delta.” And then, Cathy looked up. “I’m sorry, Jan, I didn’t mean to blow at you. Some of the things Lane demands of us are idiotic. Here at Alpha, they leave me alone and I still get the job done. Even though I’ve got a sergeant who thinks all women should be barefoot and pregnant.”

  Janet laughed. “And at home?”

  “Right now his idea sounds pretty good, especially the ‘at home’ part.” And they both laughed. “Hey, how’s Lisa and Penny doing?”

  “Working hard, like everyone else. The major’s taken a special interest in Lisa and she’s given her a squad. Lisa’s good.”

  Cathy’s hands stilled. “Any other news? How about the women in my old squad?”

  “Granger took point two days ago and stepped on a mine. Blew off one of her legs. She’ll live. Right now, they have her in Bangkok at the hospital there. Guess she’ll get flown to Hawaii as soon as she’s stabilized.”

  Compressing her lips, Cathy bowed her head. If she had been there even as point, she might have prevented Karen Granger from getting wounded. Instead, she’d been in Hua Hin on R & R.

  “What about KIA’s for Delta?”

  “We’re luckin’ out, Cathy. None, so far.”

  “Still collecting belts full of scalps for Lane?” she asked bitterly, pulling out the bolt carrier group from the receiver.

  “Major Lane’s real proud of our body count. We’re still ahead of the regiment in enemy KIA’S. Did you know we’re running a fifth patrol now?”

  Cathy nearly dropped the bolt she was lightly oiling. “Five? Are you serious? My God, who’s running it?”

  “Major Lane is handpicking girls from each platoon to make up the fifth squad.”

  “Which ones?”

  Janet tensed. “Lisa’s one of them. Irene Rogers is another. And Penny Amato.”

  Cathy drew in a ragged breath. “Lisa can’t take that kind of pressure. What’s Lane trying to do? Kill them? All just for the greater glory of the WLF and the goddamn media?”

  “Hey, take it easy, Cathy. All those women are really good at what they do. I guess Lane thinks they’re our best and least likely to get killed.”

  “Hayes, haven’t you ever heard of the law of averages? You can’t do what Lane’s trying to do and get away with it.” How high was the price going to be? Cathy wondered in anguish. Rogers enjoyed killing. Penny had an attitude that could deal with the extra pressure. Lisa did not. It would only make her harder and more bitter. My God, it would kill Lisa inside. She’d never be the same. And then Cathy laughed explosively. Would any of them ever be the same? Never again.

  Janet squirmed in place. “Hey, how’s that XO of yours? We heard Captain Ingram bitching about him.”

  “Captain Boland?”

  “Yeah, he’s the one.”

  Cathy’s heart beat hard for a moment. “He’s one hell of an officer.”

  “We heard you went on R & R with him.”

  Cathy nodded, smoothing lubricant over the metal parts of the bolt group after reassembling it. Keeping her tone neutral, she murmured, “Our whole team went on R & R together. It was like a dream, Janet. I had to keep pinching myself to make sure it was real. Hot water. Hot food.” Cathy hoped word hadn’t gotten back to Delta about Jim and herself.

  “What about Captain Boland?”

  “The whole team enjoyed the time off, Janet.”

  “What did you do?”

  Cathy maintai
ned a stoic expression. “Swam a lot. Ate a lot of American food. Especially hamburgers.”

  “Is he nice?”

  “Boland? Yeah, he’s a good officer. Why?”

  “Oh…just wondering. Scuttlebutt says he should be on the cover of GQ.”

  Cathy laughed out loud. “Major Lane is attractive as hell, too, and that doesn’t mean a thing. She’s still a viper despite her looks.”

  Janet gasped. “You shouldn’t say things like that,” she breathed.

  With a shrug, Cathy finished daubing the oil on the metal. “It’s the truth, Janet. Lane is browbeating our company like a rabid dog howling for blood.” She lifted the barrel of the rifle and checked for any sign of rust or corrosion in the bore. “Our blood. And if she’s pushing for five patrols a day, I can guarantee you, it’s our blood that’s going to spill sooner rather than later for her damn body count charts she’s got hanging up in her CP.”

  “If the major heard you, she’d haul you up on charges of being a traitor to our cause!”

  Cathy glanced over at her. “Why are you getting upset over what I said?”

  “You just don’t go around saying stuff like that, Cathy! It can get you in trouble.”

  She grinned recklessly. “What’s Lane going to do? Send me out on patrol three times a day? She’ll do that anyway when I get back. So what?”

  Agitated, Janet got to her knees, her face white. “I gotta go.”

  “Wait—will you tell Lisa that I miss her? Tell her we’ll have a lot to catch up on when I get back to Delta. And give Penny a hello and hug from me. Okay?”

  Rubbing her hands along her thighs after she stood, Janet nodded. “Yeah…I will. I’ll see you, Cathy. Be careful, okay?”

  “You too,” Cathy called softly, and watched Janet Hayes scurry over the hill and disappear. With a shake of her head, Cathy realized that since their return to Alpha, she’d had one surprise after another. In the past two days, she had missed Jim and the closeness they had established with one another. He was someone to whom she could confide her deepest fears and wildest dreams. Tamping down the urge to walk over to Alpha to see him, Cathy forced herself to finish cleaning her rifle.

  MACKEY LOOKED up, surprise evident on his face as he saw Jim Boland come unannounced into his office. The captain came to attention and saluted.

  “At ease, Jim.” He laid down the pen and noticed the officer looked grimmer than usual. Had something gone wrong? “Sit down,” he invited, motioning toward a chair. He smiled as he reached for a fresh cigar and bit the end off it. “Well, how did it go? I had hoped to hear from you as soon as you returned from R & R, but I’m sure you had a lot to catch up on as XO of Alpha.”

  Jim took a sheaf of papers and placed them on the colonel’s desk. “I’m sorry it took two days, sir. I’ve put down the pertinent facts I’ve gotten from Cathy Fremont in my report on Major Lane, sir.”

  Mackey pulled the neatly hand printed report to him. So, he was calling her by her first name. That was good. “Excellent,” he murmured, striking a match and lighting the tip of the cigar. He sucked strongly, the tip growing red, a cloud of white smoke encircling his head. He shook the match and tossed it in the large glass ashtray to his left. “Judging from the twenty pages you’ve given me, it looks as though you got to her.” He beamed at him. “Good job, Jim.”

  Boland sat with his hands resting tensely on his thighs. “I’d strongly suggest you look at the last page, sir. Those are my recommendations on this case.”

  Mackey flipped to the last page. As he read, his eyebrows drew into a V. His mouth flattened as he finished and he stared across the desk at Boland. “You’re recommending we not use Fremont.”

  “Yes, sir. She’s emotionally fragile. It’s my assessment that if we did use her and Major Lane found out, Cathy would be killed.” Jim motioned to the rest of the report. “I believe I’ve documented enough detailed accounts on the WLF that you’ll have the ammunition you need to bring Major Lane up on charges. I don’t feel it’s necessary to subject Cathy Fremont to the added danger of carrying a wire to get even more evidence.”

  The colonel stared at him, his eyes narrowing. Without a word, he began reading Boland’s report. Yes, there was evidence, all right. But Senator Frederick wanted a live witness, not sheaves of reports to stand up under a blistering congressional hearing. He wanted a live body to point an accusing finger at Lane. Damn Boland! He saw the guarded look on the younger officer’s set face. He was protecting Fremont. Mackey could feel it.

  “You’ve done well,” he said slowly, “but this report isn’t going to do it.”

  Jim scowled. “It has to, sir.”

  “What’s going on here?”

  “Nothing, sir. I just don’t feel—”

  “That’s the problem, Captain, you’re feeling and not thinking.”

  Jim rose. “I would hope you’d respect my assessment of her, sir,” he grated softly.

  “I need taped evidence, not reports.” Fredericks wanted that information and this whole thing tied up in a neat little package soon.

  Jim locked with Mackey’s feral glare. “At the potential expense of her life? I don’t consider that a reasonable request to make of her.” Or me, he thought desperately, realizing Mackey wasn’t going to be satisfied merely with the detailed report he had prepared.

  “You’re an officer,” Mackey snapped, “and you know soldiers are sent out to die for the common good of all. For our country. Besides, I seriously doubt if Fremont is in the kind of danger you think she is. Your overprotectiveness is getting in the way of your normally excellent judgment, Captain.”

  “My judgment is intact, sir. I’ve been with Corporal Fremont for five days now. I’ve been able to get inside her head and her feelings. She’s not cut out to be a soldier in the first place.”

  Mackey laughed abruptly. “For not being a soldier, Fremont’s been doing one hell of a job at grabbing the headlines for the WLF as the Valkyrie. Or is Lane making up all these things about this girl?”

  “Sir, listen to me—Cathy Fremont is at the end of her rope. She’s unstable emotionally because of what she’s gone though the last three months. She’s terrified of Major Lane and what will happen when she returns to Delta. Think about the extra pressure we’d be placing on her if she were carrying a wire. I know she won’t be able to handle it.”

  Shoving the report away, Mackey shot up out of the chair. “These reports indicate what I suspected all along. Fremont is the ideal link to expose Lane. I can’t help it if she’s overemotional. So are a lot of men, but they deal with it. So will she. More importantly, does she trust you?”

  Jim crossed his arms. “Yes, sir, she does.”

  “Good. You’ve done your job, then. All that remains is that you convince her to carry that wire.”

  He enunciated each word clearly. “I won’t do it, Colonel.”

  A dangerous glitter came to Mackey’s eyes. “Since when is it your privilege to disobey one of my orders?”

  “This entire mission was predicated as a favor from you to me, Colonel, not an order,” Jim returned heatedly.

  “Jim, don’t make me make this an official order. You’re too fine an officer. I’d hate to see your career ruined by such an emotional and ridiculous reason as this girl. She’s a target for a mission. Don’t lose sight of the fact that whatever information she can provide will help all the girls over there. Sometimes you have to sacrifice one for many.”

  Anger cut through Boland and he glared back at Mackey. “Colonel, we disagree. I won’t be party to getting Cathy to wear a wire.”

  “You’re slitting your own throat career-wise and you know it.”

  “Yes, sir.

  “She’s not worth what you’re doing. Think, for Christ’s sake!”

  “I know she isn’t capable of carrying through with your plan, Colonel, and I won’t force her.”

  “What you’re telling me is that you’d let all those other girls get killed instead?” he asked tight
ly.

  “It isn’t Cathy’s or my fault Major Lane runs Delta the way she does,” Boland shot back.

  “But if a lynchpin individual can help to stop all of it, why are you resisting? Fremont is that lynch pin. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she’s protected. I’ve got a top-flight CID team whose specialty is electronics surveillance standing by. We’ll know Fremont’s movements twenty-four hours a day. The CID men will be manning that monitor every minute. If she does get in trouble, we’ll know it.” He pointed his finger at the officer. “And I promise you—I’ll keep her protected.”

  Cathy’s wariness of promises slammed back to Boland. How many had she had broken? Mackey might have all the best intentions in the world, but Cathy could still be in danger and potentially vulnerable to Lane’s retaliation. “I don’t doubt your sincerity, Colonel.”

  “I need her, Jim.”

  He shook his head. “She’s not up to it, sir.”

  “What if she knew of the elaborate precautions we were taking to insure her safety?”

  Jim studied his senior officer. With a sinking feeling, he realized Mackey was going to go ahead with the plan with or without him. Would Cathy do it just because Mackey asked her to? Would she hate him? Probably. He didn’t blame her. It looked like a setup to anyone with half a grain of intelligence and Cathy was going to add it all up in a hurry. Jim didn’t want the trust that had grown between them destroyed like this. And it would be. He ran his fingers through his hair in an aggravated motion. “I don’t believe she’ll even consider the mission.”

  Mackey walked over to the report, struggling for control, trying to use his persuasiveness instead. “Look, Jim, I realize Fremont has come to mean something to you personally. I’m not going to ask how much because it isn’t any of my business. What is my business is running this regiment to the highest standards. And that includes the safety of all my people, including those girls over at Delta. I’m ultimately responsible for them. You aren’t betraying Fremont by asking her to help us. She’s providing an incalculable service to everyone. I promise you can work as closely as you want with the CID people. Hell, I’ll even throw in a QRF, quick reaction force, on standby. If Lane thinks she can jeopardize Fremont’s life, she’s mistaken. I’ll put you in charge of that team. And, if necessary, you can bust in right on top of them and arrest anyone who is threatening the girl.” He walked to the chair and sat down.